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tv   Andrea Mitchell Reports  MSNBC  August 18, 2009 1:00pm-2:00pm EDT

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and the numbers are very similar. and it's a split with sort of a pinkie toward the negative. and there's sort of three key groups. if you're to look inside the numbers, where there is slippage on this particular issue, which frankly, i think, tells you the story of the health care debate in general. among independents, we're seeing a net negative of folks against the public option. among seniors, a net negative against the public option. suburban woman, who had been very -- this was a critical pro-obama voting group in 2008. they are net negative against the public option. and they have been slipping more so than any of the other groups. and they're the ones. then let me give you another number here, because this is turning into a little bit of a democrat versus democrat fight. we have a group -- you have democrats that identify themselves also as liberals, on the ideological scale, and then we split out democrats, self-described democrats, who do not call themselves liberal. well, the opposition to the public option is much higher
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among democrats who do not describe themselves as liberals. you can call it the blue dog demographic, if you would like. but among those, it is no wonder, politically, why you see, why there's so much flexibility here with the white house, because conservative democrats, frankly, are probably -- not probably, they are representing their constituents views on this in their district. these non-liberal democrats are concerned about government, that the health care reform is going to go too far. >> and i know you're going to have a lot more numbers from our new nbc news poll tonight on "nightly news," but overall, do you think that the white house is doing a good enough job of counteracting the myths, the rumors, the false information that's out there? >> well, i think that -- look, the way to view this poll, andrea, and why we went in the field is sort of, the last time we were in the field was just before the town hall madness extravaganza, whatever you want to describe it as. this is measuring public
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opinion, sort of from the last three weeks. we were in the field three weeks ago. now, this is after all the town halls, both on the congressional level, plus the president himself, and the question is, did he make up any ground? did he keep losing ground, or did he keep things the same and not lose anymore ground, and now they're sort of on even turf. but even if they are on even turf, they've still got a ways to go in order to get popular support for health care reform. in general, people believe health care needs to be reformed, and i think what you're learning is, the more people want to know what's in it for them, and the white house hasn't been able to easily say, this is what you're going to get in return for health care reform. the what's in it for me aspect. not in my backyard type of mind-set. at the end of the day, we're all self-centered. and particularly on health care, it's a very personal issue. and people are trying to figure out, what's in it for me, and that has not been easily communicated. obviously, the republicans
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haven't been able to say, what's not in it for you. and that's been the dominant part of this conversation. >> and before i let you go, the bill factor. bill clinton back in the white house, in the situation room, with the president. the secretary of state will not be in that meeting. she has a separate meeting earlier in the day. her regular meeting with the president. i know they're trying to choreograph this. and they were very careful to not have the president speak with the former president before he went to north korea, so that they could say it was a private meeting. but now they're going to debrief him. and this is going to be one of the great political intelligences of bill clinton, former president, who will be telling the current president about kim jong-il. that's a pretty interesting session. >> it absolutely is. obviously, we would love to be flies on the wall for that. which is probably why they're putting it in the situation room. because it's very difficult to get a fly on the wall in the situation room, to be quote/unquote bugging the place. but, look, there have been plenty of presidents who have had former presidents brief them
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before. my guess is bill clinton will be a little more sensitive to this when it comes to president obama, considering how much he sort of took it as a little bit of an affront or how annoyed he was when he was president and jimmy carter went over to north korea on his own and sort of -- this is a little more choreographed than when it was carter doing this diplomacy, sort of with, you know, i guess you would call it, he wasn't told not to go, he wasn't encouraged to go at the time, but there was a lot more tension between clinton and carter back in the 90s than we're seeing between bill clinton and barack obama. >> absolutely. i've got to tell you, i was in the press room that day when we were trying to find out what was going on with jimmy carter, and mike mccurry was there and you've got the national security adviser. nobody could find out what happened with jimmy carter. and then we turned on the tv and there he was. >> giving his own account. god love him. >> right. that's jimmy carter for you. thanks so much, chuck todd at
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the white house. and be sure to watch "nbc nightly news" tonight for more on our new nbc news exclusive poll results with chuck todd. for more on the liberal uprising that now has the president on the defensive with both the left and the right, let's bring in our panel. susan page, "usa today" washington bureau chief and political editor ron brownstein, atlantic media political director, dan balz, national political reporter for "the washington post," and co-author of quality battle for america: 2008," best-selling book. thanks so much for joining us. susan, first of all, to you, the battle of the left and the right, kathleen sebelius, the health and human services director went out today and said, nothing new, we weren't sending any signals, but they were! they weren't changing the actual words, but they -- >> apparently, last weekend was the weekend they decided to send a message that they were willing to give up on the public option and go with this more ephemeral ideas or less defined idea of
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co-o co-ops. the day before on saturday, we had barack obama himself saying at a town hall meeting that this was just a sliver of health care reform. and not something that should undo the idea of moving ahead, even if the public option -- i think the white house has determined that both because of opposition from republicans and more importantly from conservative democrats that this is not going to be in the final bill and they're trying to let these house democrats, who tend to be more liberal, to know that. >> but dan balz, even though our good friend and former colleague linda douglass says nothing new, robert gibbs says nothing new, it's clear that they are signaling that they're ready to compromise. but have they sent too much of a signal, not enough of a signal? you know, how are they going to orchestrate this, especially with the house democrats? >> well, if they were hoping to send too little a signal, they've certainly failed on that front. it is hard to know exactly why this came when it did, other than the fact that this might be a useful debate for them to have in the middle of august, when
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congress is scattered around the country and yet they can begin to gauge how much liberal opposition there is, excuse me, to the idea of dropping the public option. they knew there was opposition to including it. now they're getting a sense of the cost of not including it. and i think this is one of the calculations that they have to make so that when everybody comes back in september, they can begin to try to move this debate to a conclusion, which they've been unable to do through the course of the summer. >> and ron brownstein, we saw with jon stewart and others the very funny opposition. let's take a look at what jon stewart had to say last night in assessing the signal that the president very deliberately did send. >> what did you just say?! >> the public option, whether we have it or we don't have it -- >> no public option? we still get to kill old people, though, right?
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did you just drop public option, because little college mc -- mr. president, i can't tell if you're a jedi ten steps ahead of everything or if this whole health care thing is kicking your [ bleep ] a little bit. why is this so hard? why can't you just stay on message? remember the bush team, a little bit of discipline, a little bit of reputation, they sold us a war nobody wanted and nobody needed. >> of course, they didn't sell social security, private option. so everybody gets off message in august. >> the timing of of this is a little odd in that it is happening at a moment when it's becoming increasingly apparent that the bipartisan process in the senate is really running out of steam. that chuck grassley had made more and more clear, there's almost certainly not going to be a bipartisan agreement. you're only going to do this with democrats. this is important to a lot of liberal democrats. but in a broader sense, with all due respect to jon stewart and others, the politics and substance of this has really diverged in a dramatic way.
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as recently as 2004, no democratic presidential candidate had a public plan in their health care proposal. so this is a priority of a very recent vintage. and the congressional budget office has estimated that even if the house version of the public plan went through, only about 10 million people would be enrolled in it by 2020. so the thought that this by itself is going to be the lever to change the health care system seems to me remarkably overstated. and finally, i think there are many, not only conservative, but democratic health care experts that would argue that changing the payment structure and the incentive system for doctors through things like this independent medicare commission would ultimately have much more impact on the kind of trajectory of costs and the way the health care system operates. but the way this has become an easily identified property for the left, really is overwhelming the substance at this point. >> and we've got this cover from the "new york post," the tabloids, going crazy, sellout, pelosi, rockefeller and all.
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this kind of hyperbolic debate brings me, with great affection, to another topic today for us. susan page, bob novak. he would have appreciated this. >> he would have loved it. he loved controversy. he got involved in some controversy himself in the valerie plame affair. he was a wonderful, relentless reporter. a lot of columnists do not continue to do reporting. i was on a show on a rival cable network a couple years ago on a saturday night, he was in the green room, making cell phone calls until the moment we went on the air. >> capital gang. >> we were on the air with his cell phone rang with a callback. my memory is he picked up the phone and said, i'll call you back, while on the air, which would be very much like the kind of -- >> brain tumor, susan, ron, dan. dan balz, you knew him very well from the gang iron. we knew him there as a cross dresser. explain. >> well, bob novak was one of
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the most threatrical members. he was always willing to embarrass himself on stage in front of the great and powerful of washington. and as a colleague and i know i'm somewhat younger than bob, he was always generous and gracious to those of us who were trying to make our way into this business. and as susan said, a relentless and tireless reporter. >> absolutely. very dog ed aged and very gener. i remember after the primary in south carolina, the most compelling i had covered. i asked some of the titans in the business, what was the most compelling one you've ever coffered? and he would talk about the primaries. >> when he was a democrat. >> he loved talking about capitol hill. he wrote a great review, kind of reminisce about covering the senate in those daying.
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his institutional knowledge of washington, of all the theatrics of his on-air persona, at heart he was a reporter who loved uning how this place worked. >> he put on a greening frog costume and played kermit. his last gridiron role, he played dick cheney and dressed as darth vader, and i remember him in a dress singing "there's nothing like a dame," on stage to helen thomas when she was president of the gridiron. >> bob novak, we have to remember him kindly, but also the greatest of the redskins fans. we've lost jack kemp, bob novak. it has been a terrible series of losses. and bob novak, who had surgery at duke university on the recommendation of teddy kennedy after his surgery and his diagnosis. so teddy akennedy helping him extend the quality of his life for a several more months. our thoughts go to geraldine and his two children and all the
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great gridironers. thank you all for remembering bob novak as he died this morning here in washington. and straight ahead, new bloodshed today in afghanistan, where the taliban is carrying out attacks in an effort to disrupt this week's presidential election. we'll take a look at what is really at stake there with nbc's richard engel, live in afghanistan. plus, former defense secretary, william cohen, joining us live here in the studio. you're watching "andrea mitchell reports," only on msnbc. achoo! (announcer) what are you going to miss when you have an allergy attack? achoo!
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another bloody day in afghanistan today, just days ahead of thursday's presidential election. two americans are now dead, three more wounded after a roadside bomb exploded in eastern afghanistan. and the taliban is claiming responsibility for a suicide bomb that killed seven, including two u.n. workers near kabul.
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i'm joined now live from kabul by nbc news chief foreign correspondent, richard engel. richard, who has been doing extraordinary reports on the violence all weekend, on a visit to the women's prison in kabul. richard, thanks so much for joining us. is there a sense that the taliban attack -- do you think that the taliban attack will keep people from the polls? >> reporter: the people we speak to say that they are not going to be deterred, at least here in kabul. we are not seeing an overall level of violence. when i was walking around today, the streets of the city still feel very safe and markets are full. it's not in lockdown, in any way. in fact, there's not even that much security on the street. but we have seen a few spectacular attacks, heroic this suicide car bombing today that, according to nato officials, killed at least one nato soldier. no indication of which nationality, from nato, but when we were on the scene, we did see
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many british military vehicles going back and forth between the scene and a british military base and locals told us that it was a british military convoy that was targeted. >> richard, your amazing reports from afghanistan, including your tour of the women's prison last night, do you have any sense that despite the candidacy of at least one woman for president, any sense at all that this election will make a difference in the way women live? >> reporter: it's a very interesting situation you have here, in that perhaps long-term, it could have a positive impact, and it could be a turning point moment, because more than 300 women are running for president or local office. many more than in elections here five years ago. but at the same time, as you well know from washington, this is a time of political horse trading and the status of women is such that they are often traded like horses. and this law that was passed recently and then enacted by
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president karzai was really at the expense of women. it was quietly passed through about late last month and this law, which only applies to the shiite communities, makes it legal for husbands to starve their women if -- to starve their wive is if they deny them sex. so you're seeing very chauvin t chauvinistic politics and women taking the brunt of that, but you're seeing a lot of women hoping to change this aabominabe situation in running for office. >> but the leaders, including karzai, and those more likely to be elected, whether it's karzai or abdullah, none of the leading candidates have a better posture towards women? >> reporter: it was karzai who passed this law, a law that president obama, when he first heard about it, called it
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abhorrent. it is one of the worst laws for women since the fall of the taliban eight years ago. and he passed it in order to gain some political clout with shiite religious leaders. so, clearly, his -- women's rights are not at the top of his agenda. it seems that political expediency is more important to him. the other leading candidate, abdullah abdullah, his former foreign minister, is seen as somewhat more favorable toward women, but that has not been something that has been on his -- at the head of his campaign. he's been running a grassroots campaign, trying to appeal to the rural poor and many people have been talking about women's issues, but it certainly has not been something that either of the candidates have been strongly identified with. >> richard engel, from kabul, we look forward to your reporting tonight on "nightly news." thank you, richard. and now to former defense secretary, william cohn, to follow up on that, the former
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war lord, people that we are investigating for mass murders, now allied with our allies, hamid karzai, in afghanistan. it makes one wonder, what are we doing there? >> it also makes a number of the afghani people wonder what we're doing there. about 42% of the population of afghanistan is poshtoon, and they have been the supporters of karzai, and they think he's been too tanlgic in terms of the ethnic loyalty and putting in places of power. so there's a declining support within the poshtoon community. i think there's no doubt that we still have a national security interest there to the extent that al qaeda is still operating in parts of afghanistan and also in pakistan. then we obviously have an
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interest there. but i think we got a limited window to show some success in helping the afghan people to gain control of their country. you have general mcchrystal, who has recommended the doubling of the army to about 240,000, doubling of the police to about 180,000. so we'll have to wait and see whether or not, whatever government president karzai or whoever wins this election is able to really establish credibility and then control. and we won't know for some time. and that's going to then call into question, what's our long-term commitment and what is the long-term commitment of the other nato members. we've seen some falling off of support. that's going to put more and more pressure on the obama administration, because general mcchrystal may, in fact, recommend more troops. >> and in fact, senator mccain was -- is traveling with other members of congress and other members of the senate and this is what he had to say about more. troops. he's recommending it.
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>> it is very clear to me that more resources are needed in the form of additional troops, as well as material, economic, and other support. the troop levels, i believe, need to be significantly increased, and we will look forward to general mcchrystal's recommendations. >> so, there are going to be recommendations. it's very difficult for this president to reject a recommendation like this from general mcchrystal. it seems to me like it's baked in the cake? >> i think what the president will have to do is listen to the recommendations coming from the field from general mcchrystal and not engage in incrementalism. in other words, there's some pressure from the white house saying, don't request anymore troops, at least according to some reports. but i think it would be a mistake. if you're going to need more troops, ultimately, put them in now while you still have, i think, at least strong congressional support. that support is likely to wane in the coming year. and if you come back six months from now saying, we need more troops, it's going to be much
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more difficult and then you run the risk that the policy is seen as a failure and that does translate not only politically, but for us, militarily, from a security point of view, into a very negative situation. so if we do need more troops, do it now and don't do it later and don't do it on an incremental basis. do whatever you need to, put them in now, and do not defer. >> the question is, where do you get them? the obvious an is iraq. ken baken, your former spokesman, who not only was a longtime "wall street journal" correspondent, but then the assistant secretary defense under you and secretary perry, and then left and did something amazing. he became head of refugees international. we work with him so often here with reports on the iraqi refugees and others. this man left an amazing legacy and he died at the age of 64. >> he was a man of great integrity, both as a reporter, certainly as a spokesman for the pentagon. he briefed the press, did it very professionally, very
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thoroughly. he knew every issue, every nuance and made sure that i was fully prepared to go out and meet the press. and then he carried on, as you said, his idealism and his dedication to public service, carried on when he left the pentagon to become head of refugees international. so his love for people and for the disadvantaged, i think, remains at the end of h his life, a great individual. >> a tough loss. >> yes. >> thank you, bill cohen. thanks for being here. >> appreciate it. and coming up, the white house makes a deliberate move on gay rights. details ahead. senate democrats sound off on the possibility of dropping a government-run public option for health care. senator kent conrad will be joining us. you're watching "andrea mitchell reports," only on msnbc. i never thought it could happen to me...
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this may be a sign of a rare but serious side effect. i was caught off-guard. but maybe you can learn from my story. have a heart to heart with your doctor... about your risk. and about lipitor. and here are some top political stories that we're tracking right thousand. video just in. president obama is meeting with egypt's president mubarak at the white house. the president said that the
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white house is beginning to see some movement from israel on the issue of israeli settlements. that's certainly looking at the bright side of it from their perspective. the palestinian territories. the obama administration has written a brief, meanwhile, on the defensive marriage act, even as the justice department skurnlt defending the law. the white house says it does not support the policy, believes it is discriminatory, but still wants it appealed. and still ahead, liberal democrats up the pressure on president obama to keep the public health option on the table. democratic congressman joe sa sestak will be joining us next. . in your hands... knees... and back. for little bodies with fevers.. and big bodies on high blood pressure medicine. tylenol works with your body... in a way other pain relievers don't... so you feel better... knowing doctors recommend tylenol... more than any other brand of pain reliever.
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it's lash blast! for the biggest, boldest lashes of your life! this big brush doubles the size of lashes. 6 million women have doubled theirs. try lash blast. only from easy, breezy beautiful... covergirl. several leading democrats are up in arms over the obama administration's signal that it might be backing away from a government-run health care plan. democratic congressman joe sestak said it would be very heart to vote for a health care bill without a public option. congressman joe sestak joins us now from pennsylvania. thanks so much, congressman. good to see you.
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you're in a tough primary fight as well with arlen specter, a new democrat. congressman anthony weiner said today that president obama would lose 100 votes in the house without the public option. do you agree? >> yeah. it's going to be hard for me to vote for a bill that doesn't have the public health care plan option in it for two reasons. one is that while universal coverage of everyone is a necessity for americans, health care reform is a necessity for america and its economy. right now we have 47 million americans who are a market for the private insurance companies. in pennsylvania, two companies have 60% of all private health care plan options. without reform of a fair competitor, that's a choice that's not subsidized by the government, only copays and premiums who elect to join it. i want it because it's good for the economy. i want accessibility universal
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because it's good for americans, and right now, we need leadership, particularly in the senate. >> at the same time, according to the latest poll, quinnipiac, at least, has arlen specter ahead of you by 30 points among democrats, yet, at the same time, you did very well with the netroots poll, the liberal bloggers last week in pittsburgh at their convention. but look at the kind of town hall meetings that arlen specter has had to endure. most recently, of course, berated by people. let's watch what happened at specter's last town hall meeting. >> i'm not a lobbyist with all kinds of money to stuff in your pocket so that you can cheat the citizens of this country, so i'll leave and you can do whatever the hell you please to do! one day, god's going to stand before you and he's going to judge you and the rest of your
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damned cronies up on the hill. >> that's pretty tough stuff, especially for your opponent, who has suffered two brain tumors, open heart surgery, hodgkins disease, has survived all of this, to have somebody face you down at a town hall meeting on health care when you've been the biggest supporter of health care and the nih. do you have some sympathy for your opponent here? >> what we need in america right now is sympathy and empathy for the citizens, and for their anxiety that government, particularly the last eight years, has failed them. look, this is about leadership, and i'm very grateful that arlen specter has, since i announced my intent to get in the race, followed my leadership. he took off his wall in his conference room that poster board he and bob dole took throughout america that misled everyone about bill clinton's plan, even though it would have reduced premiums by 3%. and he took that off after i got in the -- announced i would get in the race. and now, four months ago, he
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said he was opposed to a public health care option and now he's for it. that's the kind of leadership, particularly by the majority leader, senator reid, i would like to see in the senate today. look, we need this health care plan. it's not about arlen specter. it's not about joe sestak, it's not about our job. it's about americans. it's about everyone having the same quality health care my daughter did at 4 years old when she had a brain tumor and the military has tricare. that's the soul reason i got in politics, so everyone would have that opportunity. principle must triumph over politics today on this issue, and no longer can we have people worried about political calculation and their job. those senators should be down there, being led by the majority leader, senator reid, fighting for public health care plan option, because it's good for the pocketbook. it's good for the economy, and overall access for all is good for americans. that's what we really need. and what this is all about. >> congressman, i know your 4-year-old daughter had a brain
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tumor. she's now 8 years old and doing very, very well. he has gone through hell and survived and conquered this thing. with that in mind, will you vote for anything that doesn't have the public option? is the co-op a possible alternative if the president of the united states tells you this is what is needed? >> i respect the president, and as you know, i got into this race despite the political establishment of the democratic party saying, don't get into it, because i thought we needed a new future. i'll ultimately do what's best for pennsylvanians, and right now without a public health care option or something a that actually is very, very, very similar, which the president's co-op proposal isn't, we won't get those insurance companies to have a fair competitor that actually brings premiums down. and since pennsylvanians have had a 90% increase in premiums in the last nine years, we've got to have something like that in there. and right now i'm going to find
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it hard to do so unless we have that in there. >> joe sestak from pennsylvania, a tough fight. one of the signature races that we look forward to in 2010, thank you very much for joining us today. and as liberal democrats continue to wage a fight over whether a public option is essential to true health care reform, conservative democrats and moderate republicans are pushing those co-ops as an alternative. with me now on the phone from north dakota, senator kent conrad, leading the charge at getting cooperatives into the health care reform bill. you just heard joe sestak and we've heard anthony weiner and others today from the left saying that they will not support anything, senator, that does not include the public option. how do you persuade them that a compromise involving cooperatives is just as good? >> you know, it's always hard to know what will appeal to different members. i certainly have great respect for joe sestak, but the cooperative plan has several
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strengths. one, we know what cooperatives do and how they function. they've been very successful across many different busy lines for a long time. you've got land o' lakes that's a cooperative, a $12 billion entity. cenex harvest states, a $20 billion entity. group health out in washington state, 600,000 people. the highest rated plan in the state. so we know this cooperative approach can work. and it will provide a nonprofit competitor to for-profit insurance companies, which is what i heard congressman sestak say he'd like to see. and it's not government controlled or government run, it's run by its membership, which appeals to some republicans. so it gives us the only hope of a bipartisan bridging of the differences and in the senate, at least, you've got to have bipartisan support in order to pass reform. and i don't think we should lose
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sight of the fact that the experts tell us that there are many other parts of this bill that are extremely important to getting costs under control and expanding coverage and ensuring quality. >> senator, retlet may ask you about this. "the huffington post" is reporting that the general accounting office reported back in 2000 that cooperatives didn't have enough market share to really bring costs down. are you familiar with that report or can you counteract that? >> yes, absolutely. we've consulted the best actuaries in the country, and they have told us, number one, with the plan that we are constructing in the finance committee and a reformed insurance market and tens of millions of new entrants, those facts change the evaluation. and with what we're discussing in the finance committee, the best actuaries in the countries have told us that cooperatives
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would secure 12 million members and would be the third largest insurer in the country and would provide meaningful competition to the states that now have almost none. about half the states in the country have no meaningful competition. >> senator conrad, what about the possibility of losing grassley? we're seeing during this recess that your republican counterpart in iowa is beginning to talk as though he can't support anything if there isn't support among iowans. >> well, i'm certain that's true of all of our colleagues. it should be true. we were sent to represent the people that elect us, and i'm confident at the end of the day, the good people of iowa will rally around a common sense bipartisan proposal that does bring down costs, that does secure additional coverage, that does reform the insurance market, that does emphasize prevention and with wellness. and that's exactly the plan we're working on in a bipartisan basis in the finance committee.
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>> kent conrad, from the great state of north dakota. thank you so much, senator. >> thank you, andrea. coming up, the crisis of confidence on wall street. what will it take for consumers to increase their spending? cnbc's erin burnett joins us live from wall street. [ femal] the deeper you clean, the cleaner you feel. olay deep cleansers go beyond what the eye can see. they remove 2 times more dirt and make-up than basic cleansing. for a deep clean feeling, deep cleansers from olay.
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well, some relief. wall street rebounding with some better than expected earnings reporting following the dow's biggest drop in more than six week. but investors are still worried about nervous consumers. they're not spending enough to jolt the country back into a full recovery. let's go live to cnbc's erin burnett live at the stock exchange. how much of a factor is consumer confidence? >> well, consumers are very important. two-thirds of the economy. and what we saw today, several big retailers reporting, target on that list, home depot, saks fifth avenue, the department store. profits better than expected. but where the problem was was on revenue. and obviously, that's perhaps a best indicator of consumer
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spending. now, consumer confidence, we all know those numbers have come in and have dramatically disappointed. but what's interesting, andrea, it's not necessarily the confidence number itself, which is correlated with whether consumers are going to spend money. it's consumers' expectations about the future, and if you look within these confidence numbers, you also see a drop there. so you're not even seeing kind of that ray of hope. it's across the board within the confidence numbers you're seeing the weakness. and andrea, we do just have these headlines. edmunds.com, one of the big websites people go to for car research and buying and selling vehicles, has come out and said that activity in terms of people searching for cars is down 31% from the peak during the cash for clunkers program and they say that that number is usually reliably linked to whether people actually buy vehicles over the next 90 days. so it looks like the cash for clunkers fill-up is also in the rearview mirror and it's very hard to see what could replace it. >> that's for sure.
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thank you so much, erin, for, i think -- well, we like to talk to you whether it's good news or bad news. >> i'm sorry. >> either way. thanks, erin burnett, from wall street. and what political story will be making headlines in the next 24 hours? that's next on msnbc, the place for politics. always my favorit. with all the pet hair in the air, i'd spend class preoccupied, bothered by itchy eyes. but now i have new zyrtec® itchy eye drops. it works fast, with just one drop, to relieve my itchy eyes from allergies for up to 12 hours. no other allergy itchy eye drop works faster or longer. which is good, 'cause there's a lotta paws to shake. with new zyrtec® itchy eye drops i can love the air™. (announcer) find it in the allergy aisle next to other zyrtec® products.
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so what story will dominate headlines in the next 24 hours? the white house reporter for the washington post joins me now. you've got two clintons and one obama there today. >> that's right. it's a rare convergence of the two clintons' agendas here. the more interesting one being, of course, former president bill clinton who is going to come and have a long meeting with the president, give the readout of his visit to north korea where he rescued the two american journalists. they're going to meet for -- it's scheduled for a long time for the president, for an hour. a full hour here in the situation room. they will each have some people in the room. but the white house is saying that it's going to be the two leaders, former president and
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current president going over what the former president saw when he was in north korea. >> that's going to be a really interesting debrief. this is not just sending an envoy or sending an ambassador, this is sending the former president of the united states who dealt with the north koreans, who had, in fact, a writing relationship at least with kim jong-il's father and has an in with him because he wrote a letter of condolence when the old man died. >> that's right. it's going to be interesting on so many levels. another interesting layer in it is former president clinton and president obama aren't really close friends yet. they haven't spent a lot of time together to say the least. they haven't spent a lot of time together since the primaries died down. and this really gives them an opening to get to know each other better. it's also possible that the discussion will move beyond north korea. they could easily talk about health care, the economy, the white house isn't limiting the discussion to just north korea, although they do expect president obama to ask the
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former president clinton about what he saw, what it felt like. it won't be your standard diplomatic debrief, he's done that with the nfc. it'll be a more personal discussion about what he saw and what it felt like. >> and you've got hillary clinton there for the meetings with the president, and then there for her secretary of state one-on-one as he said so famously, i'm the secretary of state, not my husband. >> that's right. >> during her trip to africa. and she has a news conference today as she meet with the colombian leader. it's a busy diplomatic day, but there's that personal political side, ann. >> reporter: that's right, and everyone was curious here at the white house, would the secretary of state be in this meeting with the former president? and in another situation with that different secretary of state. you can see that being, perhaps, the protocol to have her in that meeting, but she won't be there for that. she will, however, have one of her senior aides, a senior adviser to the former president, as well. she will be in that meeting, the
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former president's bringing some of his aides with him, as well and white house people. but she won't be there. their meetings are separated by a couple of hours so that there won't be any stories about that component of it, at least not today. >> and we have to say, for all of the talk of bill versus hillary and all of that, shouldn't lose sight of what she did. she really has elevated as wrote in the "washington post" today, really has elevated the whole aspect of women. i talked to richard angle about the women in afghanistan, but women around the world is part of her diplomatic mission. >> reporter: yeah, absolutely, and has been in her life for a long time. going back to the famous speech she gave in 1995 in beijing when she was first lady and she said women's rights are human rights and vice versa. she has been an international celebrity. and even though there have been two previous secretaries of state, she's elevated that role,
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given women around the world they're familiar with to look to and this trip to africa, that was a great deal of her focus and has been since she's been there. >> very good to see you. thank you so much for joining us from the white house. and that does it for me this hour. i'm andrea mitchell in washington. and contessa brewer and melissa francis pick up the coverage next hour. we're going to tell you what to expect in the first phase of the credit card legislation goes into effect this week. plus, is the music industry dead? we take a look at how musicians are fighting to make it despite the recession. it's the economy coming up next on msnbc. introducing the all new chevy equinox. with an epa estimated 32 miles per gallon. and up to 600 miles between fill ups. it's the most fuel efficient crossover on the highway. better than honda cr-v, toyota rav4
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use your credit card, pay out the wazoo, banks are rushing to hike the fees before new rules go into effect to protect consumers. >> and get this almost $800 billion for a national stimulus and more than half of americans don't think it's even working.
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some top lawmakers on capitol hill question the effectiveness of spending all of that money. >> we'll break down what's working and what's not. good tuesday, everyone, it's the economy on msnbc. i'm contessa brewer. >> and i'm melissa francis. many folks are heading back to class, but are the online schools diploma factories? we're going to talk to a guy who conducted an experiment and a cat earned a high school diploma. and a deal's in the work for brett favre to play football for his former rivals. what is with the legendary athletes retiring, making a big old scene and then they just can't stay away from the -- >> drama. drama. but the big story, in two days, new rules for credit cards go into effect. some are rushing to raise their rates. >> starting thursday, they have to give you 45 days notice if they're going to increase rates. they can increase your minimum payment but not more than double what it was, and they have to mail bills 21 days before the
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due date. a financial analyst, bob sullivan writes for msnbc.com. let's start with you. what's with these banks and the fees and rushing to hike them before these new rules go into effect? >> this is one of those unusual situations, contessa and melissa where everybody's guilty. at the root of this is that consumers had such an insatiable appetite for credit that a credit card company found out they could keep adding charges, making the language and the deals so arcane that only an accountant could understand it. and all of a sudden, they had more and more credit to deal with and u.s. consumers wanted the credit so much that they never read it. we're the most ill lit rate. they compared --